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Becoming a mother can make you feel older fast--but it needn't make you look older.

The best way to regain your youthful figure after that cherub is born is to avoid excess weight gain during pregnancy.

*You need only 300 or so extra calories daily during the second and third trimesters, but more of most nutrients.
*Focus on eating ---two or three servings of calcium-rich foods,
---five servings of vegetables,
---three of fruit, six of whole grains,
---two of lean meats and other protein sources

You should also take a prenatal vitamin every day, and make sure it contains calcium. "If you don't get enough, the baby will 'take' calcium from your bones, increasing your risk of osteoporosis and stooped posture," says Heidi Reichenberger, MS, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

A healthy weight gain is 25 to 35 pounds. And exercise is half of the weight equation, just as it was before you were pregnant. "The consensus now is that it's okay to exercise at about the same intensity you were working out at before you got pregnant," says exercise expert Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, PhD, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A growing number of studies find that prenatal exercise benefits both mom and baby. According to two recent studies, women who are physically active during pregnancy are less likely to develop life-threatening preeclampsia or deliver prematurely.

But some kinds of exercise--including contact sports, high-altitude workouts, scuba diving, and some abdominal crunches--aren't safe during pregnancy. So check with your doctor.

---------------------------------------------

I do realise that it isn't the most useful article on pregnancy ...but all I could find for the moment.

Pregnancy seems to be very very complicated.
It has a list of DOs and DON'Ts longer than my arm

Here's a few:

Things You SHOULD Do

*You Should Get Regular Medical Exams
One of the easiest and best ways to avoid problems and complications during pregnancy is to get regular medical exams from your doctor or midwife.

*You Should Get the RDA (Reccomended Daily Allowance) for Folic Acid
By getting the proper amount of Folic Acid you significantly reduce your baby's risk for spinal bifida. The current recommendation is 0.4 mg of folic acid daily.

*You Should Check Your Immunity to German Measles (Rubella)
German Measles (Rubella), if caught during pregnancy, can lead to miscarriages and fetal deformities. The best way to avoid this possibility is to be vaccinated for Rubella prior to getting pregnant.

*You Should Take Prenatal Vitamins
Both you and your baby need plenty of vitamins during pregnancy, and by taking special prenatal vitamins you guarantee that you are getting everything you need. Getting the proper vitamins can also help you avoid diabetes.

*You Should Eat Plenty of Protein
The RDA of protein for pregnant women is 75 grams but 100 grams is often recommended. Adequate protein is essential for the development of the baby (especially the brain) and may help protect against preeclampsia during pregnancy.

*You Should Eat Well and Get Plenty of Exercise.
Your diet needs to include plenty of vitamins, minerals, fiber and so on, just as it normally should. You also need to exercise and watch your weight as your normally would.

*You Should Be Sure to Get Enough Fat in Your Diet
Fat and cholesteral, which you normally try to avoid, are important for absorbing the fat soluable vitamins (A,D,E, and K) and for strechable skin. Fat is also necessary for the developing baby brain. That does not mean you want to be over-consuming it, but you need to make sure you are getting enough. There are so many fat-free foods on the market today (fat free milk, butter, ice cream, meat, bread, cookies etc.), it is very easy to consume a fat-free diet without realizing it. 2 tablespoons of fat a day is recommended for pregnant women.

*You Should Do Kegal Exercises
Weak kegal muscles can contribute to pain during birth, premature flexion of the baby's head and a prolonged second stage. Childbirth can also weaken these muscles and cause discomfort afterwards. The following show how to do the kegal exercises.

*You Should Use House Plants
A modern house is full of hundreds of hidden chemicals that are emitted by paints and stains, carpet, particle board, household cleaners and so on. One of the best ways to filter and remove these chemicals is with house plants. Spider plants, for example, are known to be good at removing formaldehyde (which is quite common in paints).

*You Should Focus on Your Child and Avoid Negative Thoughts and Actions

*You Should Take Care When Traveling
Traveling when pregnant requires some special considerations, especially when traveling to foreign countries.

*You Should Talk to Your Doctor about Existing Conditions and Your Family History
If you have any pre-existing conditions, chronic problems or a family history of reproductive problems, you should let your doctor know about them so that he/she can take appropriate action. Pre-existing conditions include things such as diabetes, herpes (and other STDs), heart problems, epilepsy and high blood pressure.

*You Should Not Smoke or be Around People Who Do
Smoking is such a well-known hazard to the mother that it only follows that it is also harmful to the baby. Yet hundreds of thousands of pregnant women still smoke. Secondhand smoke from smokers who live or work with a pregnant women can also affect the fetus. Exposure to smoke can result in spontaneous abortion, pre-term births, low-weight full-term babies, and fetal and infant deaths.

*You Should Not Drink Alcohol
Alcohol has a variety of negative effects on your developing baby depending on the dose and frequency. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the worst-case scenario, leading to severe retardation and other abnormalities.

*You Should Not Take Illegal Drugs
In utero drug exposure is associated with an increased rate among newborns of low birth weight, central nervous system damage that may delay or impair neurobehavioral development, mild to severe withdrawal effects, and physical malformations such as cleft palate, heart murmurs, eye defects, and abnormalities of facial features and other organ systems.

*You Should Not Take Presecription Drugs or Over the Counter (OTC) drugs, Including Aspirin, Unless Told to Do So by Your Doctor
Drugs that are safe to take when not pregnant can cause devasting effects to a fetus when you are pregnant. If you are even thinking of becoming pregnant, you should discuss the use of any drugs you currently take with your doctor beforehand. It is recommended to not take any OTC drugs during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy when the heart, lung, and brain is being formed.

*You Should Avoid Hot Dogs
Hot dogs have been implicated in several studies. (Note: It has also been found that children under the age of five who eat more than 1 hot dog a week may have an increased risk of cancer).

*You Should Avoid Caffeine
Caffeine taken during pregnancy is thought to increase the probability of a child contracting diabetes.

*You Should Avoid Contact with Reptiles
Be sure to tell your doctor if you have any contact with lizards, iguanas, turtles, or snakes as the salmonella virus is transfered through their ***** and can affect your pregnancy. Also, children under the age of 5 are also at risk for contracting salmonella if they are in contact with reptiles.

*You Should Avoid Tick Bites
Tick bites open you to the risk of lyme disease, which can be deadly to your developing baby.

*You Should Avoid Fish
This warning comes from the November 27 issue of Time Magazine (page 31). Fish concentrate methylmercury, which is known to affect the developing child's brain.

*You Should Not Eat Junk Food
The basic problem with junk food is that it fills you up but does not provide vitamins or protein. As your stomach size decreases during pregnancy, junk food takes up room and prevents you from eating the foods you really need for your and your baby's health.

*You Should Avoid Vitamin A Supplements
By consuming as little as 4 times the RDA of vitamin A, you greatly increase the risk of having a baby with birth defects or other problems. Exposure during the first trimester is the worst. Natural sources of vitamin A are OK - it is foods that are artifically supplemented that cause the problem, and most foods are. You need to start reading packages to make sure you are not getting too much Vitamin A. Other fat-soluable vitamins such as D,E, and K can also accumulate in the body organs and tissues and high-dosage supplementation should be discussed with your doctor.

*You Should Avoid X-Rays
According to the book What to Expect When You're Expecting, the risks posed by X-Ray exposure are fairly small, with the greatest risk occuring early in the pregnancy. Informing your doctor or dentist of the fact that you are pregnant is probably the best way to control your risk. If an X-Ray can be postponed until after the pregnancy, then that would eliminate the risk.

*You Should Avoid VDTs
In Kaiser's researchers tracked 1,583 pregnancies ... [and] were surprised to find a statistically significant 73% increase in miscarriages in working women using CRT-style VDTs (cathode ray tube style video display terminals), compared to other working women. Older VDTs are especially suspect. However, later studies have been less conclusive or contradictory.

*You Should not Use an Electric Blanket
Electric Blankets give off low-level electromagnetic fields which may be harmful to a developing baby.

*You Should Not Use a Water Bed
The heaters used in water beds give off the same electric fields as those found in electric blankets (see previous) and should therefore be avoided for the same reasons.

*You Should Avoid Drinking Tap Water if Possible
Recent studies have shown that drinking tap water during the early months of pregnancy can increase your risk of miscarriage. If this concerns you or you have a history of miscarriage, you may want to discuss drinking bottled water with your doctor.

*You Should Avoid Stress
Stress at work is defined as, high psychological demands from work activities, and low decision-making powers on the job.

*You Should Not Expose Yourself to Pesticides
Pesticides (including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and so on) can have a variety of effects on your unborn baby depending on the type of chemical, the length and intensity of exposure and the age of the fetus. In general it is best to avoid exposure to all pesticides. The problem is that pesticide use is extremely widespread in the U.S. You can be exposed to pesticides in your home (ant and roach bait traps, no-pest strips, houshold pest control products and services, flea collars on dogs and cats...), in your yard (lawn care services, do-it-yourself herbicides and insecticides on the lawn or garden), in your neighborhood (especially in rural areas, but also from suburban neighbors spraying their yards), from various food sources... The most you can do is attempt to avoid these dangers as best you can.

*You Should Avoid Fumes from Paint, Paint Thinner, Household Cleaning Products and so on
As with pesticides (see previous) the best you can hope for is educating yourself and trying to limit your exposure.

*You Should Avoid Raising Your Body Temperature
There is a potential danger to the developing fetus if your body temperature rises above 102 degrees. You can raise your body temperature to this level by getting a fever, by exercising too strenuously, working outside on hot summer days, and so on.

*You Should Not Use a Sauna, Hot Tub or Take Long Hot Baths
Hot tubs and hot baths have a tendency to raise your body temperature and therefore are to be avoided. See the previous item for details.

*You Should Avoid Cleaning Cat Litter Boxes.

*You Should Avoid Uncooked Meat.
Both cat litter and undercooked meat present the risk of toxoplasmosis, which causes birth defects.

Much of Sushi is uncooked meat - be it Salmon or tuna or some other stuff... Also, Steak can be cooked to 'rare' which is nearly uncooked version. The advice could be about not eating such foods.

Well done steak and nicely boiled Salmon are much better in that sense - though, of course, they taste differently...

Perhaps, you might want to emphasize that the diet and vitamin supplements are better planned with the help of their doctor... Depending on the mother's health and other conditions, Doctors will be able to help choose the best suited diet.

Only note from Vasan: Surround your home with love and cheerful thoughts. Its a period of celebration and there is really no need for anxiety. Take good care, be knowledgeable about things happening to you (or to your spouse) and rejoice in the good thing happening. Listen to plenty of good music and learn to relax. God bless !! ( mm.. Is there any imminent need for this topic? Or was it, Doctor Blue's, general purpose health note? Either way.. good one.. :D )

A very good topic Blues. Hope the expectant and future parents of Geetham will benefit from these pages.

Vasan

Short MeasuresIt is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us - Isaac Disraeli

All the information u have given are intersting and informative.Thanks for starting a thread for pregnancy care.

I would like to share some information here.

Gaining the right amount of weight during pregnancy by eating a healthy, balanced diet is a good sign that your baby is getting all the nutrients he or she needs and is growing at a healthy rate.

It is not necessary to "eat for two" during pregnancy. It's true that you need extra calories from nutrient-rich foods to help your baby grow, but you generally need to consume only 200 to 300 more calories than you did before you became pregnant to meet the needs of your growing baby.

Ask your health care provider how much weight you should gain during pregnancy. A woman of average weight before pregnancy can expect to gain 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy. Underweight women should gain 30-40 pounds during pregnancy. Overweight women may need to gain only 15-25 pounds during pregnancy. You may need to gain more or less weight, depending on what your health care provider recommends.

In general, you should gain about 2 to 4 pounds during your first three months of pregnancy and 1 pound a week for the remainder of your pregnancy.

Mother's fish diet boost to baby
Children whose mothers eat fish regularly during pregnancy develop better language and communication skills, research suggests.
The findings are based on analysis of the eating habits of 7,400 mothers.

A fish diet seemed to lead to better language and social skills in children as young as 15 months.

The research, by the University of North Carolina, published in the journal Epidemiology, also looked at mercury levels in umbilical cords.

Fish is a source of many nutrients that can be beneficial during pregnancy
Julie Daniels

In the US, mothers-to-be are warned against eating more than 12 ounces of fish a week because of the effect of mercury poisoning on their unborn child.
But the researchers found that in the UK, where mercury levels in seafood are relatively low, the benefits of eating fish in moderation outweighed the risk of contamination.

Word understanding

Julie Daniels, from the University of North Carolina, studied women taking part in the Children of the 90s project based at the University of Bristol.

She found that 70% of the women said they ate fish at least once a week.

The largest effect of a fish diet seemed to be in children's understanding of words.

In tests carried out at 15 months children whose mothers ate fish at least once a week scored 7% higher than those whose mothers never ate fish.

Similar but less marked patterns were seen in tests on social activity and language development.

Scores were also higher among children who ate fish at least once a week before their first birthdays.

Ms Daniels said: "Fish is a source of many nutrients that can be beneficial during pregnancy, as well as a source of contaminants such as methyl mercury.

"Previous investigations of fish intake in relation to neurodevelopment have focused on possible damage from contaminants while the potential benefits have been relatively unexplored."

Mercury levels

The researchers examined the umbilical cords of 1,200 babies for the presence of mercury and found overall levels were low.

While they found higher concentrations in women who ate fish, there was no link found in the developmental tests.

The researchers also found that eating four ounce portions of fish between one and three times a week was enough to produce benefits. Higher levels of consumption did not seem to have any greater effect.

The researchers conceded that more research was needed to assess the benefits of eating fish in areas with a higher level of mercury pollution.

Dr Anne Nugent, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, told BBC News Online certain types of oily fish such as salmon and tuna contained omega-3 fatty acids, which were necessary for the normal growth and development of the foetal brain and nervous system.

"Whilst this study does not specify how often the mothers ate oily fish, whether the infants were breast or bottle-fed or whether after weaning the infants consumed fish as part of their diet, it does suggest that eating fish during pregnancy has beneficial effects.

"More studies are needed to confirm the effects observed on cognitive function."

The UK Food Standards Agency recommended on Thursday that women of childbearing age should eat a maximum of two portions of oily fish a week.

A problem experienced by many womenduring their first trimester (50-80%)

A common phrase used for vomiting and nausea, it can happen at any time during the day.

Although much research has been carried out, the cause is yet unknown.
they think it might be related to hormonal changes or to low blood sugar level in early stages of pregnancy.

take heart!

it shall pass! :D

On average morning sickness subsides after the 12th -13th week, for the majority of women.
I shall be honest for some unfortunate ladies it may be for the entire length of their pregnancy. However it is very rare.

Neither the child's health nor your health (as in pregnant lady's health) is in any danger. However if you suffer from severe non-stop nausea best tell your obstetrician about it, because you may lose weight. Weight loss during pregnancy is very bad !!

Try keeping a positive attitude, although it might not feel like it, morning sickness is temporary and for a good cause, your baby. Try to maintain an adequate fluid intake, keep rooms well ventilated to prevent accumulation of odors that may trigger your nausea or vomiting. Medication for morning sickness is usually not necessary (unless in case of non-stop severe nausea).

A few tips to try and control the nausea and vomiting:

*Eat soda crackers 15 minutes before getting up in the morning,

*Eat small meals often (for example, every 2 hours).

*Drink fluids 1/2 hour before a meal, or 1/2 hour after a meal. (Do not drink during meals.)

*Drink enough fluids during the day to avoid dehydration. (Drink small amounts each time.)

*Do not hesitate to eat whatever you feel like eating, this is not the time to diet.

*Do not hesitate to eat whenever you feel you can.

*Get up slowly and do not lie down right after eating, this may trigger nausea and heartburn.

I have heard that the Gujurathis and the Pakistanis have special foods that they feed pregnant ladies with.
Do Tamilians have similar practices?
If so can any mothers or knowledgeable individuals share those with us?